Certain kinds of electrical connectors are attached to a copper-wire conductor cable and, more specifically, are attached to the ends of mutually insulated electrical conductors which are encapsulated by that protective and insulating cable. The Registered Jack 11 (RJ-11) connectors are familiar connectors that are attached to both ends of a residential telephone cable which telephone users plug between the back of their telephone instruments and their wall outlets. These male connectors make a snapping sound when inserted into the female receptacles in the back of the telephone and in the wall, thereby indicating that they are properly locked in place. The connector has a raised plastic clip on the outside of its body, which is accessible to a user and can be depressed by the user's thumb when the connector is to be removed from its receptacle. Typically, there may not be many telephone or other cables in the vicinity of the telephone cable being removed and the removal experience is usually without difficulty.
However the situation can be quite different with different connectors. For example, the Registered Jack 45 (RJ-45) connector looks very similar to an RJ-11 connector but is wider. It is an eight wire connector, typically used to connect computers onto a local area network (LAN), especially Ethernets. It also makes the same snapping sound when properly inserted into its mating receptacle, and has a similar raised plastic clip to be depressed by the user when the connector is to be removed. However, in computer environments, there are typically many cables lying around. Particularly, if computer equipment is rack mounted, where many pieces of equipment, such as, for example, severs, digital switches, routers, power supplies, data storage units, copiers, fax machines, printers and other equipment are all crowded into a small space, a “rats-nest” of cables can abound.
In this crowded computer cabling environment, it can be a substantial challenge to remove an Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector attached to its end. The raised plastic clip, also known herein as the “hook” or the “release mechanism” seems to catch on every cable crossing its path. Wiggling, jiggling and tugging-on the cable attached to the connector that is being removed in order to free its hook is the normal user response. Further removal progress is made until the next cross-cable or some other barrier is encountered by the hook. At some point, the user's frustration level may get the best of him/her and the user yanks on the cable causing damage, most likely by breaking the hook on the cable. In addition, other damage can be visited upon other cable connections or components as a result of this yanking. Once the hook is broken, that cable connector becomes essentially worthless because it is no longer a reliable cable connector; although it can still be plugged-in, it can no longer be locked-in to its receptacle. The cable connector and cable are then typically discarded, and this is a wasteful activity.
There is a need for an improved connector which maintains the functionality of a standard connector, but has an improved design which would allow it to be removed from a rats-nest of cables under adverse circumstances such as those described above without ensnaring other cables and breaking or causing other damage to other cables and equipment.